Heading West

We moved to Grants, NM, today. We're in Lavaland RV Park, a decent place that will make a good base to explore El Malpais National Monument and El Morro National Monument.

From the site photos below, you can see blue skies and a few white fluffy clouds. However, when we arrived and during our setup, a storm blew in and reduced the temperature by 20° and brought cold rain showers and even a bit of hail. Ouch! Fortunately the storm passed.

Lavaland is just off I-40, but far enough that we haven't noticed the traffic noise. It's a bare bones park. We got one of the few 50 amp sites, and it's just barely long enough for us.

After the weather cleared, we went for a walk and found that the Northwest New Mexico Visitor Center is practically next door. They were about to close for the day, but we did manage to pick up some brochures and maps and ideas for hikes. We asked about videos and were told that unfortunately their equipment is broken. W asked about programs and were told that the center is short staffed because of budget cuts, but they try to do some ranger led hikes in the summer.
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Busy Day in Albuquerque

This morning we went to the foothills of the Sandia Mountains to Elena Gallegos Open Space to hike. We didn't have a map, so we just set out on the Cottonwood Springs Trail. That turned out to be a very nice accessible nature trail leading to a wildlife blind and small pond.

We continued on to a trail marked #140, part of the Pino Trail, which leads to the crest. We didn't go that far, but turned off on #341 and circled back to our starting point. The views were marvelous. To the east the Sandia Mountains loomed above us. To the west the city of Albuquerque was laid out in a wide valley below.

We saw many varieties of wildflowers in bloom as well as junipers and pinons and cacti. We spotted some mountain bluebirds, but none willing to pose for the camera. We encountered folks out walking their dogs, jogging, and bicycling, but for much of the time we seemed to be alone in the vast open space.

After our hike we went to Costco to pick up some groceries before heading home for lunch and a shower. This afternoon we drove to Old Town, where we saw San Felipe de Neri Church, one of the oldest buildings in the city. The current church was built in 1793, but the parish was established in 1706 and has been continuously in operation since.

We walked around Old Town, taking note of all the shops. We had planned to eat at the Back Street Grill, but it is apparently closed for renovations, so we walked to Cocina Azul. We were eating early, so we'd be ready for dancing at 7:00 p.m. That meant we were among the few diners. We checked in on Yelp and got free chips and salsa.

After dinner we walked back to the truck and did some grocery shopping on the way to our dancing date. Caller Kris Jensen has a C-2 square at her house. The group is called the Half Crazies. It is not officially part of the Wilde Bunch, but all the dancers who participate on a regular basis are actually members of the Wilde Bunch club.

When we arrived, Kris introduced us to her wife, Turtle Bear. Soon other dancers arrived. Unfortunately, none of us wore name tag. Of course the rest of the group knew each other. I can recall some of the names, but not which faces they go with. Everyone was very gracious about welcoming us into their square, and very patient with our inexperience.

We studied our call definitions to prepare for this experience. It's been two months since we danced, and we have just barely learned C-2. We definitely had some blank moments here and there. Kris's choreography was quite novel to us, since our total experience of C-2 dancing has been with Darryl and Randy. It was also creative and interesting.

It was all wonderful fun, both the dancing and the socializing with the group, a really great bunch of folks.

Tomorrow we'll move on to Grants, NM.

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Abiquiu to Albuquerque via Santa Fe

We had an eventful day today. We moved from the Riana Campground at Abiquiu Lake to the Sandia Resort & Casino in Albuquerque. Halfway between those two places lies Santa Fe. We visited the plaza on our last trip in 2010 and saw the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi and the Palace of the Governors and the New Mexico History Museum. This time we wanted to see the New Mexico State Capitol.

We also wanted to shop at Trader Joe's and the Whole Foods Market. They are just across the street from each other and about a mile and a half from the capitol. We found a place to park along the Metro Rail track just west of the Whole Foods. We shopped at Whole Foods and put the food away before lunch. After lunch we walked to the capitol. We knew there wouldn't be any place to park our home near the capitol, and we enjoyed seeing part of Santa Fe on foot.

We had read reviews on Tripadvisor that lauded the extensive collection of New Mexico art on display, which interested us. Nothing could really prepare us for the impact of the art collections on the second, third, and fourth floors.

Walking back to our truck, we spotted this bus stop. After shopping at Trader Joe's, I put the food away while Ken returned the shopping cart to the store.

Then we headed south. We're staying in the casino parking lot (just parking, no hookups). We've got a great view of the mountains.

We bought some Monk's Ale at Whole Foods. It's brewed by the monks at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert, and the labels say "brewed with care and prayer."

After we ate dinner, we walked over to the casino, which also features some New Mexican art (some of which is for sale in the gift shop).

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Security

Another quiet day close to home. We spent some time today updating and changing passwords for our many accounts, and especially the ones that LastPass told us were impacted by the Heartbleed bug. This sounds like a straightforward operation, but when you consider that many of these sites are ones that we access not only on our laptops, but also on our phones and tablets, the job takes longer than expected. That's probably why we've been putting it off. Unfortunately, we have a lot yet to do. One day maybe people will be freed from this complex task by using biometric logins. Can't wait.

On our walks today we reviewed some of our C-2 square dance call definitions. Tomorrow on our walks and drive we'll go over more of them. We're hoping that we'll be able to dance reasonably well in Albuquerque on Wednesday evening.

We watched another episode of Cosmos tonight--another spectacular episode. We learned a lot and were amazed by the complex unfolding history of our planet Earth.

Tomorrow we'll be leaving Abiquiu Lake and moving south. We're promising ourselves that we'll be returning to this beautiful spot. Read more!

Quiet Sunday

We stayed around home today, going out only to take our walks around the campground and checking to see which rigs are leaving and which arriving.

We spent some time again on travel planning. We needed to make some phone calls, but our cell service is so unreliable and drops calls regularly that we made a list of calls to make tomorrow--when we drive to a nearby location with actual Verizon service.

We watched the newest episode of Call the Midwife. Somehow we've really gotten hooked on it. Read more!

Rio Chama Canyon and Christ in the Desert Monastery

 Today is May 3, Rebecca's birthday. Ken called and talked with her this afternoon as she and Catt were walking out onto the pier at Newport Beach. Happy birthday, Rebecca!

We missed visiting the Christ in the Desert Monastery on our last visit to Abiquiu, so that was our destination as we set out today. It's a few miles north of Lake Abiquiu, off US 84, on Forest Route 151 in the Santa Fe National Forest.

It's a 13 mile drive on a very curvy one lane dirt road to get to the monastery, with stunning scenery around every curve. For most of the way the road follows the curving route of the Rio Chama, though often enough it's at a dizzying height above the river (at least it's dizzying if you are sitting on the side of the vehicle nearest the dropoff, going around a blind curve on a one lane track!).

Along the way we saw several turnoffs with labels like "Big Eddy," "Whirlpool," and "Rio Chama Campground" as well as others that were unmarked. All were inviting, but we saved exploration of all of them until after our visit to the monastery.

After an hour's drive, we arrived at the monastery around 12:15 p.m. We wanted to be there in time to hear the monks sing Sext, one of the hours of the Divine Office, at 1:00 p.m. Meanwhile we browsed through the gift shop and the photograph gallery.

The chapel, designed by George Nakashima, is both peaceful and awe-inspiring. The high windows give on a view of the majestic cliffs beyond. Listening to the chanting of the psalms brought back memories of visits to Assumption Abbey in Ava, MO, many years ago.

When we left the monastery, we embarked on an exploration of most of the byways leading off 151. We drove into some and walked into others. One developed campground has 9 sites with picnic tables and fire rings. The remaining camping is "dispersed camping" with no officially designated sites, but plenty of beautiful views along the Rio Chama.

We stopped at Skull Bridge, where we decided to check out the Ojitos Trail, which forms a portion of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. If you look closely at the post, you might be able to make out the distinctive logo of the CDT. We followed the trail for a while. It's clearly used by equestrians, as we saw large horse trailers parked at the trailhead and on Forest Road 474, and we met two riders on the trail.

After a bit we decided to turn around. I'm sure it was because we had other things to check out (and not because of the large black bull showing some curious interest in our approach--or maybe it was a steer....).

[For more info and photos, see Trip Report: Chama River Canyon Camping.]

As we explored, we saw several occupied campsites, mostly with tents, but we also saw one travel trailer. The Forest Service website suggests that some sites might accommodate a 20-ft. RV, but first you'd have to get the RV to the site. Given the state of the roads, most people wouldn't want to attempt this except in a rugged, high clearance vehicle. We were glad to be in our truck. When the weather is inclement, everyone is advised to avoid traveling on these dirt roads. Read more!

Trip to Espanola

We went into town today. Espanola is the nearest community of any size. It's 30 miles southeast of Abiquiu on US 84, about halfway to Santa Fe. We hated to leave the pristine beauty of Lake Abiquiu, especially since today was a really lovely warm sunny day, but we had to do our laundry and do some shopping.

Our first stop was at Box Pack Mail, a UPS and Fedex drop off point, where I picked up a package from Carolyn at New Horizons. She had kindly shipped back to me the GPS unit I left lying in the customer lounge. Next we stopped at CVS to pick up some prescriptions that Dr. George's office had faxed in. As it turned out, only one of the two prescriptions was there, and the pharmacist said that they had received only one. So Ken had to call the doc's office and try to get things straightened out. The problem is that this kind of mixup has happened before, and Dr. George's office again insisted that they had faxed both prescriptions. It took three phone calls to convince them to fax it again.

By now it was past our lunchtime so we stopped at Subway--after we found it. Turned out the location we had visited on our last trip here had closed, but we found our way and had a late lunch.

Next we went to the Bubble Zone, a nearby laundromat. After we got the clothes in the washers, I went out to the truck to make some phone calls. The Verizon signal at the lake is unreliable. I had three doctor's offices in Mission to phone in payments to. I succeeded on one, left a message on another, and ended up stymied on the third. Frustrating!

Then we went grocery shopping and got diesel before stopping at the CVS again to pick up the second prescription. As we were about to pay for it, we realized that it had been filled for one month instead of three, so we had to wait for that to be corrected. As we left the store, I looked at the RX label and realized that it had zero refills (it was supposed to be a 90 day prescription with three refills....). We like Dr. George, but we are really unhappy with the incompetence of his office staff.

Back out at the lake we took our evening walk, again enjoying the wildflowers and the sunshine and the bunnies and the kids on the playground and the peace of nature after the frustrations of the city. The campground is definitely filling up for the weekend. Read more!

May Day

At breakfast we watched the antics of a couple of male house finches fluttering around our roof and the truck. Their colorful reddish heads and chests attract attention.

After breakfast we hiked the Abiquiu Lake Vista Trail. The USACE map of the trail system at the lake is not very detailed. It certainly isn't topographic! We wound our way up and down many switchbacks, at times near lake level and at other times high on some hills overlooking the lake and surrounding area. The trail surface varies from flat flagstones to smooth rock to sand/gravel to soil. It's mostly well marked, especially at intersections with the two other trails that are part of the "stacked loop" trail system.

The view at times was quite expansive, except when we walked through more closely spaced junipers. We saw several varieties of spring wildflowers, which must be very resilient to survive here. One that has been catching our eye is the bladderpod, which grows in clumps all around the area. While we were out the weather went from bright warm sunshine to biting wind with ice crystals hitting us.

We diverged from the trail to explore the non-motorized boat ramp and surrounding picnic areas and pavilions, all of which are closed right now. We sat for a few minutes on a bench overlooking the lake, just taking in the spectacular scenery.
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April Ending

Today is the last day of April. It's a special day because it is Carol's birthday. While we were out today we found a spot with a decent Verizon signal, so I got to call her (on Ken's phone) to wish her a happy birthday.

Our adventure today was a trip to visit Dar al Islam. The USACE brochure on Abiquiu Lake lists some nearby sightseeing, and this Muslim Mosque is mentioned. The website for Dar al Islam calls it an Islamic Education Center.

 Imagine looking across the lush Rio Chama River valley towards a juniper studded mesa site framed by surrounding layers of arid hills and arroyos. Off in the distance are snowcapped mountains lingering among scattered clouds across an azure sky. You see the cream-colored, domed roof line of the Dar al Islam mosque and madressa float above and merge into the landscape. Designed by world-renowned Egyptian architect, Hassan Fathy, the mosque and school are only part of the well-equipped site which includes a lecture hall, residential units and offices.

 Today the only person around was in the office. He pointed out the mosque and suggested that we would need to remove our shoes. When we asked if he had any handouts or brochures, he suggested we consult daralislam.org. So much for eduction. We walked over to the mosque, which is attached to the larger education center.

Inside we found a simple space. At the entrance were ceremonial ablution stations for worshippers to cleanse themselves before prayer.

After we walked around the campus, we drove to the Plaza Blanca. It's on private property owned by the Dar al Islam, but visitors are permitted to hike and photograph the area. The "Plaza Blanca" or "White Place" was a subject of several of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings. It's easy to see why an artist would be drawn to the place.

It's awe inspiring. We hiked into a box canyon, following a (mostly) dry streambed. Then we hiked around the base of the Plaza Blanca formation. It was difficult to decide which direction to look, as the vista in all directions was spectacular.

Back up at the parking lot, we spread a ground cloth in lieu of a picnic table and had our lunch, looking down into the fairy landscape below.

After lunch we wound our way back to the campground, stopping at Bodes Store in Abiquiu to get some diesel and some produce.

Our evening walk around the campground brought us the sight of these blazing flowers, lit by the evening sun. We've seen several types of white wildflowers and some interesting yellow ones that grow in clumps, but this is the first fiery orange red we've seen. They're called Indian paintbrushes, but are very different from the fall wildflower we called by that name when I was a kid.

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Sunny and Calm

We woke up this morning to the sound of silence: no wind! What a relief after days of unceasing blustery gusts shaking our home. The sun was shining, and the world looked more inviting.

We moved this morning--from site #13 to site #14. We wanted to stay four more days beyond our original reservation, but site #13 was already reserved for the weekend, and so were all the other reservable sites (odd numbered sites) that would fit us. Our remaining option was to move to one of the walk up sites (even numbered sites) before they were taken by other folks.

We waited for our neighbors in site #14 to leave this morning and then finished closing up and pulled out to go to the dump station. Site #14 was more difficult to get into and not as wide as site #13, but now we can stay until next Tuesday. The view out our dining table window is a bit restricted. There's a tree that we had to trim a bit in order to get our slide extended.

The view out the galley side windows, on the other hand, includes the Cerro Pedernal.

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More Wind

Today was another good day to stay inside by the fire. We bundled up to go on our walks, but otherwise we stayed indoors and made some progress on our planning and paperwork.

This evening we watched a Call the Midwife episode. Whenever we watch the program, I'm reminded of Carol's days as a midwife, but it's especially apropos now since we are near Penasco, the little town where she first worked as a midwife after graduation from Catholic University. Read more!

Blustery Day

We ventured out only a couple of times today. The weather was inhospitable, to say the least. We didn't get any of the predicted possible snow, but we did feel wind driven ice particles hitting our faces at times. We didn't see anyone else outdoors except for one neighbor who decided to leave this afternoon.

We looked at some of our travel options today and decided to stay at Abiquiu an extra four days, through May 6. That will mean changing sites, since our wonderful site has been reserved by someone else for next weekend. Our current plan is to move Tuesday to an open walk-up site, we hope. We talked with campground hosts Venka and Harry today. They'll be going off duty at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow but promised to leave a note about our plans for Bob and Judy, the alternate hosts who will take over tomorrow for a week.

We spent some time today looking at information about potential Medicare Plan D prescription drug plans. It's a frustrating proposition and looks like our out of pocket costs will be much higher than with our current group plan through Northrop Grumman.

We finished watching last week's episode of Cosmos, The Clean Room, and watched this week's episode, Sisters of the Sun. As usual, the episodes are inspiring. They are a mix of astrophysics and science history, with this week's episode highlighting the important contributions of two women astronomers, Annie Jump Cannon and Cecilia Payne. Tyson comments that the viewers probably haven't heard of these two remarkable women and quips, "Wonder why." The series has provided a balance between showing how science works and the history of advances in astronomy and on the other hand showing how personalities and vested interests have subverted the scientific enterprise.

Ken disconnected the water hose tonight in preparation for a predicted hard freeze. If the weather forecast remains as it is now, he will be doing that for the next four nights too. Read more!

Bird Program

We met some birds today. Venka, one of our camp hosts, knocked on the door the morning to tell us there would be a bird program at the Visitor Center at 10:00 a.m. We went there, expecting to see a few rescue birds. As it turned out, we saw much more.

First we were told that there would be a bird program in the parking lot and that afterwards there would be a boat trip to a remote cove. Here are the birds we met: a falcon, a red tailed hawk, and a burrowing owl.

We learned that the burrowing owl is in trouble in New Mexico and elsewhere because of a special kind of loss of habitat. Burrowing owls have weak feet and depend almost entirely on prairie dogs to dig the burrows that they need to live in. Prairie dogs are being eradicated, and the result is plummeting burrowing owl populations.

During the talk, the wind really blew up, so the leaders offered a choice between the boat ride (which promised to be bumpy, wet, and cold) or a hike along the Rio Chama. We went with the hike. Our leader was a USACE ranger named Austin, but we also had a couple of birders, Willie and Ann, who offered us the use of bird books and binoculars.

As usual, the experienced birders spotted lots more birds than I was able to see. Fortunately, Austin brought along a great spotting scope, which really helped. We saw a large eagle nest on the rocky cliff face that appeared to be currently in use by some falcons. We saw hundreds of violet green swallows and learned to identify them. We saw some Bufflehead ducks on the river, and some sea gulls flying overhead. The most amazing sight was a Great Horned Owl nesting on a ledge on a cliff face, with a fluffy light colored chick standing in front. It was really only visible in the scope, and we wondered how Austin had ever seen them in the first place.

In the afternoon we braved the wind and hiked part of one of the trails. The weather hasn't been favorable for photography, but we did get one shot of the Cerro Perdenal with part of Lake Abiquiu in the foreground.

I have been very puzzled and unhappy that my iPhone says it has "No Service" when Ken's Galaxy and the Jetpack both have service.
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On to Abiquiu

Today we left Alamosa, CO, and headed south to Abiquiu, NM, to stay at a Corps of Engineers campground on Abiquiu Lake. We were here once before, in August 2010, and liked it enough that we promised each other we’d return. We stopped at the post office in Abiquiu to pick up our forwarded mail and then went on to Riana Campground.

We’re in site #13 in the Pedernal loop. It’s a great site and relatively easy to back into. It’s one of the four sites we occupied on our previous visit, when we decided to come here on short notice, so we had to piece together various sites.

The Pedernal loop is named for the most prominent landmark in the area, the Cerro Pedernal, an unmistakable narrow mesa that looms dark on the skyline above Abiquiu Lake. Georgia O'Keeffe loved this area and painted the Pedernal many times,  and her ashes were scattered on its top

After we set up, we walked around the campground and then sat at our picnic table to enjoy the pleasant late afternoon with a view of the lake. It was in the low 70s here today, but the rest of the week is forecast to be cold, even freezing, so we’ll have to bundle up. Read more!